Two Heroics in the First Week!

Having killed Garrosh we've now started working on heroics. It's a bit of a double-edged sword because we've only got two days for progress instead of three. That means we either have to kill everything and Garrosh or spend all our time working on heroics. This week we spent working on heroics.

The first one we attempted was Immereus.

It was a very close kill. It took us a couple of attempts to even get past the first phase. But we kept working. Made some adjustments. And managed to get a kill. But it was due to the one warlock left standing.

We put a few attempts on the Protectors but decided to kill them on normal and then attempt to kill Norushen on heroic.

I was surprised by how little the fight changed. Or I might feel that it wasn't much of a change since I got to take one of the first orbs and then just kill stuff. We had to keep really pushing the dps. The enrage timer was really close and it got us quite a few times before we finally managed to squeeze enough dps out to kill Norushen. I was really excited because I got a piece of heroic gear! New pants! They were a perfect upgrade for me since they don't break my 4-piece! 

We tried Galakras a few times but the night was getting late so we've decided to try again next week.

But it's still pretty awesome to have managed to get two heroics in one week. :)

One Garrosh Attempt

I've been a bit busy and distracted with the start of a new semester of classes and I'm really glad with how well the raid's times fit into a school schedule. Thursday we killed the first six bosses and attempted to get some gear for some new people and a few alts. Friday was a night for more serious raiding. We actually extended a lock-out this week and started the night on Thok. It was a very close attempt with everyone but the tanks dead at the end. We moved to Paragons who went down well and I rolled the bow which has better stats then my current one. Next we had to tackle Garrosh. We took a quick five minute break and then began our first attempt of the night. And it was going well. Really well. No one was dying. Mind-controls were being interrupted. We were moving together. Adds were being handled. And Garrosh's health was whittling down. I told myself to just focus and keep doing my job and before I knew it.

Bam! Achievement spam! And I got an heirloom!

And a mount! And a title! I was really excited! I even got most of the raid to stand in a group for a screenshot. Not bad for a first pull. Although I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow since we won't be trying for Garrosh. :)

What's in a Main?

Something that's been bothering me lately has been this question: who is my main?

Maybe it depends on how you define what a main is. If it's the toon with the most play time it would still remain my old night elf druid. But that's not it. For a time she was definitely my main. But she's not anymore.

Maybe it's the toon that I'm currently spending the most time on? But how do you define currently? I've probably spent more time this past week leveling my mage Gastalon then I have on my other toons. But last week I probably spent more time on my hunter. So then my main would be constantly switching.

Purhaps a main is the toon that you identify the closest with. Which leaves me wonder which toon is my favorite?

I started this year confident that I was a human death knight and then transistioning into a blood elf death knight. I was certain that I would be Tyledres for quite some time into the future.

Now I don't know anymore.

Lately I've been Awoi. A hunter. But I never truly chose to become a hunter. I love her. She's awesome. But I something wonder if this is what I really want to play?

I haven't invested the time into taking Awoi places outside of raiding. I haven't soloed many dungeons or raids. I haven't completed any achievements.

But was that because I felt a desperate need to have a max level healer? I've spent quite a bit of time and energy into leveling and getting Kirkzel, my shaman, ready to heal lfr and flex raids. I've been thinking that I want to start collecting achievements, grinding rep, and just trying to accomplish older odd-ball things but that leaves me with an important question. Who do I take for these things?

I know that achievements are shared across toons but rep isn't. Whoever I start grinding rep with is who I'll be staying with.

There's also the question of what toon do I want to play when the next expansion is released. I honestly don't know. And it's driving me batty. I like to have an idea of what I want!

Maybe I should say "hang it all" to all my toons and instant grant my 90 to an undead rogue and be done with it. Or maybe troll druid. /bangs head.

I guess I'm just going to have to keep mulling it over in my mind.

Or I could focus on the here and now and just worry about getting Garrosh killed.

Probably that. Hooray for the hunter buff in the last patch!

Giant Spiders in the Shrine

My guildies and I had just returned to the shrine after another night/morning of wiping to Garrsoh and we learnt about an usual sight inside the shrine. Giant spider!

Which meant they all had to go grab their skymirrors and attempt the trick themselves. I'm not entirely certain how they became giant spiders. I was told something about a bugged hunter pet from either Stonetalon Mountains or maybe it was Blade's Edge Mountains...

If anyone knows more about what's going on I'd appreciate hearing about it. Otherwise I'm just going to marvel over the magnificence of the giant spiders.

Reflections on 2013

It's a brand new year! I know that it's usually the time when people start making goals and plans for the new year but I find myself a bit reflective instead. It's been a big year full of many changes for me in the game.

Last year I had a very specific goal in mind for myself. I would be raiding with my human death knight. Preferably as frost but blood was acceptable. I seemed to have flubbed that goal by quite a bit but I can't say that I regret it.

I leveled and geared a new toon for almost all of the different raid tiers. The first tier I was a human death knight. I didn't get to see heart of fear because my raid group was still stuck in MSV. I made the switch to a goblin warlock and blood elf death knight for Throne of Thunder and then to a pandaren hunter for Seige of Orgrimmar. Only one of these toons existed at the start of last year.

So I find myself wondering what will be in the future? I know there's a new expansion coming out and my toons will be level 100. But will I switch classes? Maybe I'll find myself returning to the Alliance. Will I be a death knight again? Maybe a rogue? Or a shaman?

There's a lot of questions going though my mind. I do know that I don't want to play a caster class again. I love my little warlock and her green fire but I can't stand actually raiding with her. On the other hand I'm really falling in love with my hunter. I know I originally played her because she could fill in the missing raid buff and at first I was really dissatisfied with her. But I've come to realize it wasn't that I didn't like playing a hunter I just didn't like being under geared. I hated feeling that I was holding people back. Now I feel like I'm a contributing member of the team. And I'm loving the hunter. I like being at ranged but still instant casting things. I only have one ability that requires a cast time but I can still move while casting it.

It's strange to think of myself as a hunter. I have no tank or healing off-spec and it's nice to know that when I go to a raid I'm expected to dps. It's something frustrating because I can't help fill an empty role but it rarely needs to be filled. Maybe I should just accept that I'm an altaholic and accept that I can be happy as almost any class as long as I'm happy with the spec.

Right now my plans for the new year are to continue raiding with Spoiled Milk. They are a great group of people and I enjoy spending time with them in raids and outside of it. The hours are a bit later then I would like but they aren't really outrageous and they'll fit in to my schedule nicely when I return to school in a few weeks. The goal is to kill Garrosh and then to start working on heroic modes of certain fights. This week will be our third week of attempts on Garrosh. We've gotten the first phase down pat but we've been struggling with dealing with empowered corruption and the mind controls. We've had several really close attempts and even saw him push into phase three as our raid member died but we just need a bit more dps on Garrosh. It's a struggle. There's a lot to deal with but we've been working on it. And we are hoping to get it soon.